One More Joins Hopkins School Board Race

As of Saturday morning, there are three candidates for the four  up for election this year. 

Patch talked with incumbent Wendy Donovan about her qualifications, the issues she’ll focus on and what she’d be like as a school board member. 

Wendy Donovan

Time in Hopkins: 18 years

Education: Associate’s degree in general business

Job: Mother, self-employed landlord who owns two rental homes

Family: Three daughters

Government experience

• Completing her first term on the School Board
• Chairwoman of the Parent Teacher Organization at Katherine Curren Elementary School; also ran the school’s carnival and coached soccer and softball.

Other relevant experience

• Donovan said her work managing properties gives her a sound appreciation for fiscal issues. Owning the rental properties and her own home make her sensitive to the effect that taxes have on residents. “I really understand the financial piece of it and how we have to be good stewards,” she said.

Issues of interest

• “Just what’s best for kids.” “I think education has to be ever changing and has to change with the times,” she said. Donovan originally planned to serve just one term. But she found that the School Board director position has a big learning curve, and she wants to see the completion of several projects begun in her first term.

Biggest challenges facing Hopkins Public Schools

• Keeping up with the changing times: Children have readily adopted new technology and live comfortably in the modern world, she said. Schools must find ways to adapt and teach in ways that best reach students. “It’s getting us to change with them,” Donovan said.

Approach as a school board director: Making decisions based on “what’s best for all kids. It’s hard because it’s such a big picture we have.” She said she’s focused on reaching the entire spectrum of students—from those who struggle to those who thrive in accelerated courses. She’s willing to meet with whoever wants to talk with her, but she also follows the rules of the board—routing communication through the board chairwoman and school superintendent.